Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Night Shoot

Finally.
I mean I've been thinking about this for a while and well, thinking wasn't making anything happen.
So after thinking some more, I figured out how to stuff my camera in the cooler thingy, which happens to be expandable, and I wrapped my tripod to my handlebars:




















Camera.
Check!
Tripod.
Check!
So off I went!
It was still a bit light out when I got to my first spot, an overpass near Pearl Harbor.
I couldn't quite figure out the right angle for the shot as there was a massive sign on one side and a tree over hanging on the other:

















It was around sevenish when I got there so traffic was getting a bit light.  I had to wait at times for cars to pass beneath me and time my shots so that there were enough cars coming in both directions.
Well I got tired of shooting that so I moved on.
About a hundred feet from there to the bicycle path.
The one with the solar lights.
Which is a good thing since they don't put out the orange yellow hues.
I wanted some out of focus shots:

























That was a bit difficult to frame too since there was a lot of ambient light from the street off to the left.
I kinda like that one.
I should have parked my bicycle next to that lamp post.
Next time.
Then I was back under the viaduct:

















Again here, I was not quite sure how to frame this.
I liked the way the street lights lit up the bottom the freeway, reminded me of a cathedral or something with the dramatic lighting.
I was actually in no man's land on the medial strip, watching for po-po, and now that I think about it, I should have tried one shot from the street.
There wasn't that much traffic.
I also took some shots from the street in the other direction, on-coming traffic, but I don't like how they turned out.
Wrong angle and all that.
Then down the Road to Perdition, which wasn't really Perdition tonight since there was very little wind.
I also left part of my brain back under viaduct as I had the wrong settings on the camera:

























My excuse is that I was literally sitting in the middle of the street with the camera on the tripod in portrait position and as you can see, I was down low.
I was paying attention mostly to the framing while at the same time checking my back to make sure my and camera weren't going to get run over.
If you click on that image you'll see that nothing is in focus.
Rookie error.
I need to move over to the right a bit, so that the road lines and lights converge at approximately the same angle.
Anyways, I'll have to go back and reshoot that scene.
It was getting around ten o'clock when I was finishing up and to tell you the truth I was a bit worried about being out there alone with all that camera gear.
I think the next time out I'll feel more comfortable.
Then again, I don't want to get too complacent.
If you know what I mean.
The thing about those places I shot tonight was that they aren't really accessible by car, no parking, so it's easier for me to just ride there.
Most of these shots were taken with my 50mm prime, the older one, and I'm not sure I like how they turned out.
Next time I'm taking my other 50mm, the newer one, to see if it makes any difference.
I wish I could take the 747 camera bag along with all my lenses, but I think I guessed my needs pretty well.
Out of the fifty shots I took I only like the bicycle path one, the rest I need to rethink my approach.
At least I got out there and was able to finally frame them.
Instead of just thinking about it.

2 comments:

John Romeo Alpha said...

It's pretty clear to me that a solution to several of the challenges you are running into would be an attractive assistant to help make this all happen more smoothly. One who rides a bike and is a good mechanic would be pluses.

limom said...

If you know any qualified applicants I would be glad to look over their resumes.
If you know what I mean.